Thanks to David Ruben for sharing this:

We are philosophers in the United Kingdom who are also Jewish. We all support the right of Israel to exist; most of us have visited Israel on many occasions, for professional or other purposes. None of us has a history of criticising Israel in public.

However, the Israeli government’s current plan to undermine the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government poses a threat to the State of Israel that we cannot ignore. Those like us who care passionately about the health of Israel as a democratic Jewish state cannot remain silent.

A real democracy is not just a simple ‘rule by the majority’. Both individuals and minorities must have protected rights, and the judicial branch of government is there to ensure that this is so. In the absence of some system of checks or restraints on the executive and legislature, no government can aspire to be a democracy.

We fervently hope that the Government of Israel will turn away from this course of action and retain its place amongst the world’s democracies.

Dr. Nicholas Bunnin

Faculty of Philosophy & China Centre

University of Oxford

Professor Kenneth Ehrenberg

Professor of Jurisprudence and Philosophy

University of Surrey

Professor John Hyman

Grote Professor of Philosophy

University College, London

Professor Guy Kahane

Professor of Moral Philosophy

University of Oxford

Dr. David Levy

Department of Philosophy

University of Edinburgh

Professor Ofra Magidor

Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy

University of Oxford

Professor Simon May

Department of Philosophy

King’s College, London

Doctor Eliot Michaelson

Reader in Philosophy

Department of Philosophy

King’s College London

Associate Editor, Inquiry

Professor David-Hillel Ruben

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy

University of London

Professor Jonathan Wolff

Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy

Blavatnik School of Government

University of Oxford

Governing Body Fellow

Wolfson College Oxford